A repository for articles on all aspects of music and culture (and a few musings)

Saturday, July 23, 2011

The turntable-in-car sound system

In the mid-to late 1950s there was a minor attempt to get turntables in cars, marketed as a high-end option and a way to hear your favorite music that either wasn't on the radio or when you were out of range. Not surprisingly, these systems didn't really take off but they do look similar to the compact disc systems that emerged decades later.

This post was inspired by photos from a couple of blogs. Paul Collins has a post; check it out HERE. Retroist has one too.

I've always longed to be on the cutting edge of technology, but I've never come close to achieving it. I'll never be like this guy, who boasted his own under-dash record player to play his favorite 45rpm records. Look how happy he is; it may be 1957, but he knows with his dope set-up he is THE MAN. Radio signal full of static? "No problem, baby. I got your Johnny Mathis right here." [sigh]

I like how her driving gloves help keep her 45 rpm records clean while she handles them in the car:

That first moment that sought to document an act, an idea, a presence, an existence, a deity...that initial spark of creativity born of desire to intensify experience, enhance a space, beautify a body,paint a cave wall, decorate a tool...that first shuffling of utterances, that first gesture, that first rhythm, that first song...that was when we truly became human.--Kevin